Monday, February 25, 2008

AHH! Only about 2 days left 'till I leave on my trip to Egypt! I'm bursting with glee (is that even a word?) right now. There's still a heap of stuff I need to do though. =/

I have to pack, buy stuff, make lists of everything I'm bringing etc. I was supposed to finish packing yesterday and of course I haven't even started yet, so my mom's going to kick my ass when I get home, oh well.

And today I should finish a couple of things off my 101 list because I need to get addresses together for the 22 (!!!!) postcards I need to send out while I'm in Egypt.

Because I'm so lucky I also have a mild cold =/ It's not that bad but I have a very annoying runny nose but it should be gone by wednesday (which is the day I leave).

Oh and I got my friend Diana to do a list of 101 things in 1001 days so I finished one thing off my list now. Hopefully I can get everything I need to get done before I leave (schoolwork =[ )

Saturday, February 23, 2008

For some reason or another I'm a list person. I write lists on scrapes of paper, on my cell phone, on the back of my hand etc. etc. I just feel more comfortable when I have things I need to get done organized and written down somewhere. Ironically it's rare for me to actually get everything done on whichever list so this whole experiment is a way for me to kill the procrastinator in me.

The Mission:Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.Source: triplux

-Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.-Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.-Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.-Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

1. Clean my room and keep it that way [0/2]2. Re-decorate my room in colors and hues of purple3. Watch movies that I've wanted to watch for ages (make one primary list of all these movies) [0/2]4. Same with books [0/2]5. Organize all the junk in my room6. Stop procrastinating7. Eat healthier8. Start doing yoga9. Learn to sew (from Grandma?)10. Get a job11. Take photography classes12. Start writing in my blog more (July 2008)13. Start a journal and write in it every 3 days (June 2008)14. Send a postcard to Post Secret15. Try 5 new foods [0/5]16. Learn to cook17. Cook family dinners for a week [0/7]18. Take better care of my hair19. Take better care of myself20. Go out with my friends more21. Have a fake camping sleep over22. Travel to 3 cities I've never visited before [0/3]23. Go thrift shopping in Toronto24. Go to Guv one day (June 25th, 2008 BURN THE BOOKS!)25. Start working on cross stitching project for Grade 12 (Classics)26. Smile at 6 strangers [4/6]27. Buy make-up brushes28. Learn actual makeup techniques29. Leave comments on the blogs I read [2/14]30. Return my library books ON TIME!!!31. Pay off ALL my library fines32. Start taking Japanese lessons again33. Do the 24 hour famine34. Drink at least two bottles of water a day (for two weeks to form a habit) [0/14]35. Go hiking with friends twice this summer [0/2]36. Have a baking party37. Go on a road/train trip38. Volunteer at 3 different places [0/3]39. Get 2-3 magazine subscriptions40. Spend 15 minutes every night stretching [0/14]41. Watch every episode of 'Sex and the City" in one weekend with Veronica and my mom (July 2008)42. Send a care package to a friend for no reason43. Make a dress from a pattern44. Enter a writing contest45. Buy myself a sewing machine and a serger [0/2]46. Read the whole Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series47. Buy myself a D-SLR48. Fix up my mom's bike49. Get up at 6am every morning [7/14]50. Make an entertaining phone answering-machine message51. Go to the Vfest one summer52. Get a facial53. Go snow tobogganing54. Learn to count to ten in 5 languages [0/5] (Not counting French or Japanese)55. Start my own savings account56. Save half of all paychecks57. Get 4 different colors in my hair (not counting blue) [0/4]58. Start taking piano lessons again59. Start volunteering in Journalism orianted places60. Make every recipe in a single cookbook61. Learn some sort of web programming62. Learn how to use photoshop (2nd semester of g. 10)63. Copy all my contact info from my cell to an actual phone book64. Get all the addresses I need for egypt65. See the Sex and the City movie (Didn't like it)66. Eat only raw foods for one week.67. Leave flowers on a strangers doorstep68. Start keeping track of every penny I spend69. Read one of Candace Bushnell's books70. Start bringing lunch to school [0/14]71. Inspire at least one other person to start a 101 in 1001 list [Diana Feb 27th 2008]72. Stop drinking soda for 50 days [0/14]73. Take a sign language class74. Make a post when I do 10 of these things (0/10)75. Write an article for the school newspaper76. Start writing again77. Backup my info on my computer on a separate hard drive or on cds78. Get a tattoo79. Get another piercing80. Get a manicure81. Figure out which University I want to go to (Ryerson or Carleton or Western, March 2008)82. Learn more about the History of Fashion83. Go on the bungee jump like ride at Canada's Wonderland84. Go skinny dipping85. Have a picnic in a park (Had one with Rachael)86. Get my family to do Earth Hour (March 31st 2008)87. No television for a week88. Get a pen pal89. Start and finish the iCiNG Transformation Challenge (Life got in the way)90. Start a new 101 in 1001 list91. Go play bingo with friends92. Do something nice for my parents93. See Roisin Murphy Live!!! (probably won't happen since she doesn't come to North America, but I can dream)94. Go horse back riding95. Get a massage96. Re-learn how to do CPR97. Have my fortune told98. Deal with the EC problem (March 2008)99. Pay back all money (Egypt and Classics) to Mom100. Learn to play DDR better101. Host 3 themed parties [0/3]

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

These pictures makes me so happy in such an indescribable way (The picture is from StyleClicker June 1st 2007). Everything about this is perfect. I'm going to base my room around this outfit, when I paint my room in the spring I'm doing everything in shades of purple. I can't wait! When I'm done I'm going to have a wall (maybe I'll call it my inspiration wall? I'm not sure yet name wise) and have my friends come in and doodle to their hearts content. I'm also trying to find a giant clock for one of the walls of my room but I haven't been able to find any affordable ones yet.

I don't *hate* how my room is right now but I've outgrown it and I'm itching for a change. It's orange and maroon right now with black desks.

I blame you Helena! Now all I can think about is clubbing and I really don't want to go anywhere in Hamilton. My school is having something on March 19th (the day after I come back from Egypt) and I'm looking forward to it but it's nowhere near what Guvernment is like. That place looks aaammmaazziiing. Guv is having an all ages thing on March 13th but I won't be here so I'll have to wait 'till the end of school to go. Hopefully they'll have another Blackout event. *crosses fingers*

-Valentina

PS: Diana is a hottie with a body and a cutie with a booty. Be jealous.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Hi, for whatever reason you're reading this right now. So welcome to my "me" blog which won't really have any certain focus. I'll talk about clothes and my personal style. I'll gush about anime or manga that I'm into at the moment and as it says in my bio, anything else that comes to mind.

Right now I feel like talking about self esteem, boys and dating. So as any usual teenager would do, I was snooping through my mom's jewelery and found this beautiful amethyst pendant and what I think is a diamond ring. I took to wearing her amethyst pendant to school but after finding out from her that yes, it was real, I stopped wearing it so I wouldn't lose it. But that ring that I found has been on my hand constantly for the last 3-4 months. I'm left handed and when I started wearing it, the ring felt weird on my middle finger so I started wearing it on my ring finger of my left hand. Well I've never been one of those girls whose always dreamed of a perfect wedding and Barbies bore me so the whole engaged thing never entered my mind. But after going to some relatives houses over the holidays I kept getting sarcastic comments about who was I seeing, and when was I getting married etc. etc. I usually just said oh I'm just seeing myself right now at the time without really thinking about it, because I haven't been in a rush to get a boyfriend either. A couple weeks later I was reading an articlewritten by the amazing Gala Darling on and was completely fascinated. What she was saying made complete sense. Why is everyone in such a rush to go find a special someone when they don't even love themselves first? It just seems like you're asking for trouble. I've learned from years of having no self-esteem that you'll look everywhere and anywhere for approval, and that you usually need several positive comments to feel comfortable doing something. And even then you only feel like you got those comments because whoever gave them to you felt like they had to.

I'm very lucky to have an amazing mother who doesn't doubt herself and isn't afraid to speak her mind and it seems like its finally rubbing off on me. If you go to my school and have known me for more than 1-2 years you'd be able to tell by how I dress. I sadly at the time don't have much of a social life and school is the place where I have an audience to express myself in front of the most often. So I've experimented a lot and my style (which I didn't ever really have until September) has gone through a huge change. Me having little to no self confidence in middle school, (despite having been told I have an admirable figure) usually hid in ridiculously large and baggy clothing. In middle school, especially grade 8, I would trek to school in converse (which are about to die =[ ) track pants and a huge ass sweater/hoodie. I would tie my hair up and maybe where eyeshadow. Even though I wasn't miserable 24/7 I looked like crap most days and I didn't care that I looked this way.

Then grade 9 began. A part of the problem with me wearing clothing that didn't fit me was that my mom is a huge worry wart and didn't want me, quote on quote "exposing my developing body" (it wasn't me that she didn't trust, it was the WORLD *enter dramatic music here*). So if she saw something she thought I might like she'd get me a size L or XL. Even though I'm usually a M. I didn't care in middle school and I would just shrug, say thank you and wear whatever she got me if I liked it. Buut then I started to want to wear clothing that fit me in gr.9 and brought my mom's comfort level up with my incessant nagging. If you're wondering about my dad's opinion on this, well I'm still my daddy's little girl and he doesn't notice that I have breasts yet so he doesn't really object to what I wear. I also started experimenting with makeup a lot more.

I started getting interested in DIY fashion in gr.9 too but me being a procrastinator to the max, I haven't actually made anything....yet! And then sometime in August I found Gala Darlings blog (I cannot for the life of me remember how I stumbled across her blog) and the rest was history. From there I started visiting sites like Hel Looks, Face Hunter and Sartorialist. I got extremely interested in fashion, street fashion to be precise and in September when school started I went to the ground running. I guess my style right now is how my friend Tala would say (she was talking about my personality in general) is supposedly full of contradictions that just aren't when combined by me. I love colors and I am OBSESSED with stockings and would have a lot more if I had the funds to sustain my addiction. I like doing what other teens consider weird and I'd much rather get strange looks then blend into the crowd. I like to play around with my hair a lot too, and in the past couple of months have formed the habit of dissecting other peoples outfits. I'm not very cultured so I guess I'd say my inspiration is life and I usually run my outfits past my other halves (Veronica and Olivia, my beautiful sisters whom I love dearly.)

And umm holy crap what a tangent but anyways I've decided that yes I'm dating myself and that I'm taken until further notice.

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The Lady

Valentina= a 18 year old girl with an intense love for life, color and style. My family is my life and I’m having a torrid affair with television and loving every second of it. I like my school and I love my friends and I’m learning to love myself too. I love playing around with clothes but I haven’t found the patience yet to be able to keep up with actual fashion. This is a me blog where I’ll write about my life, my outfits and anything else that comes to mind.
"It is absurd to divide people into good & bad. People are either charming or tedious." — Oscar Wilde)

The vast majority of the photos I use on this blog are not mine. Whenever possible I will credit photos but in some insistences this isn't possible. For example I have a collection of un-credited photos saved on my computer. So unless otherwise noted the photos on this blog are not mine. If you see an un-credited photo and it's yours (or you know who it belongs to) let me know so I can either take it down or give you credit.